Genre Savvy
by MeridianGrimm
Summary: When Eijun realizes that he's starting to crush on Miyuki, he panics and goes out of his way to avoid the romantic scenarios that show up in shoujo manga.
1. Insight

This is going to be really goofy and a little different from my usual writing style. This fic was developed from a post I made on my tumblr with ideas for the story (can't post a link here, but it's on the AO3 version - spoilers if you follow the link)

* * *

It's an ordinary day at the end of practice, with everyone finishing cleanup and collecting their bags, when Miyuki pokes Eijun on the shoulder and casually says "Good job today."

He immediately perks up. "You liked my pitching? Which kind of pitch was good? Do you want to catch more?"

Miyuki laughs. "Not now, moron. You really are a simple guy, aren't you?"

"I'm going to be simply the best, if that's what you mean!" Miyuki rolls his eyes and makes some sarcastic remark, but Eijun spots his lips turning up and thinks that he'd like to see that smile all the time.

The southpaw gets a light touch on the shoulder as Miyuki walks past him with a brief "Later, Sawamura," and Eijun's heart skips at the contact. Unthinking, he follows Miyuki with his eyes and suddenly his hands are sweating a little more than they were at the end of practice. Miyuki's swagger is just a bit hypnotic and Eijun is still mentally replaying the second year's "good job today" and flushing. Coming from Miyuki, those words mean something different. It's not just that he's the first-string catcher; he's the one that Eijun feels most connected to. The one he wants to be close with, the one he likes the most.

Eijun registers that thought and freezes.

No. HE DOES NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON MIYUKI KAZUYA _._ Miyuki's just a jerk and a controlling bastard who looks REALLY PRETTY with those glasses and – NO, no, definitely not, not thinking about that! He's not going to think about that that smug grin, the casual touching, that tilt to the catcher's head just before he's about to say something snarky. That breathtaking cleverness isn't appealing either. And Eijun is ABSOLUTELY not going to think about the euphoria he feels when Miyuki catches his pitches.

 _NOOOOOOOOO_

Eijun is definitely falling for Miyuki. Oh, damn. OF ALL THE PEOPLE TO FALL FOR, WHY HIM?

The southpaw takes a deep breath, then three more. He shoulders his bag and finally jogs off the field and back towards his room, trying not to panic. Miyuki must never know about this, or he'll tease Eijun about it _FOR-E-VER_. He can already hear that tone of voice, that "Oh but you li~ke me, don't you?" and associated sniggering. Man, he's already blushing out of embarrassment and Miyuki's not even here.

He won't allow this crush (!) to get any worse – who knows what effect it will have on Eijun, or what effect it will have on their battery? Shit, the last thing Eijun wants to do is screw up his pitching because his heart is focused on the catcher's smile instead of the game. Miyuki's SCARILY perceptive on the field and he'll notice right away if Eijun's pitches only suffer when he's partnered with Miyuki.

Well, Eijun will just have to put a stop to this infatuation, then. Eijun nods to himself as he unlocks his door, feeling strongly that this is the right idea. It shouldn't be hard, right? He can just avoid the traditional love events that he reads about in manga. Bath time mishaps, the group date scenario, birthday events, he knows them all. This is something he's prepared for – Eijun knows EXACTLY which situations to avoid. His taste in fiction is about to come in handy.

Sawamura Eijun will NOT become a shoujo heroine.


	2. The Sick Episode

"I told you not to overwork yourself, Sawamoron. It's definitely a fever."

"Mrfgh blerg," Eijun replies, pulling the covers up further and wishing his head would stop pounding.

Kuramochi elbows him in the stomach to get his attention and Eijun jolts. "Don't go to class today, dummy, and you're not allowed to do _any_ sort of training while I'm gone, alright? That includes running. I have extra math lessons right after school today, but I'll send one of the guys over to check on you. Drink lots of water and get some sleep. If you weren't such an idiot," and he emphasizes the word with a poke, "then you wouldn't have gotten sick."

"Fargrsble."

"That's what I thought. Text me if you think you're dying, okay?"

"Mmm." Eijun hears Kuramochi slide on his jacket and then there's the squeak of the door and the click of the lock behind him. He feels for his water bottle on the floor, not wanting to open his eyes. Predictably, he falls out of bed trying to reach for it and half the bottle ends up spread across his shirt, so for the next few minutes he stumbles around looking for a dry shirt.

He sleeps fitfully, the fever making it difficult to get comfortable. He's cold and then hot and then cold again. Eijun rolls over for the millionth time and wonders what time it is. Probably before the end of the school day, if Kuramochi hasn't sent someone over yet. Who's he going to send? Harucchi? Furuya? Miyuki?

WAIT A MINUTE.

WHAT IF MIYUKI COMES OVER? He's read about this situation a million times. The love interest or the heroine gets sick and the other has to care for them. It's basically a requirement for a shoujo manga. There's homemade cooking and spoon feeding and CHECKING THEIR TEMPERATURE BY PUTTING THEIR FOREHEADS TOGETHER oh god, Eijun can't handle that, not at all, and DEFINITELY not while he's sick. The catcher's razor-sharp gaze so close to him… his heart might stop, and then he'd have "killed by a hot, four-eyed villain" on his grave.

He tosses the covers off and jumps up, throwing out a handful of obscenities as his sense of balance decides to take a holiday, and searches for something to barricade the door with. Eijun settles on the chair from Kuramochi's desk and jams it under the door knob, looping a dozen or so rubber bands around the chair and knob to keep the latter from turning. He checks that the lock is still on and then trundles back towards the bed. He sighs in relief as the mattress takes his weight. Now that he's safe from that particular shoujo trope, he lets his mind wander.

In manga situations, there's usually also a moment where the sick one murmurs something in their sleep and the other person, worried, leans in to hear more closely. "I like you, A-kun," the ill person whispers, filling in the name of their beloved. When the caregiver leaves, their cheeks are red and their heart is aflutter, wondering if it was just the illness that made the other say that, or if perhaps it was a platonic sort of "like".

Eijun tries to imagine Miyuki with a glowing blush and an anxious look and he laughs so hard he almost falls out of bed again. It's partly the delirium and partly because the idea of Miyuki being flustered by Eijun is so out of character.

Sometime later, after he's had sleep and feels slightly better, the lock clicks open and the handle jiggles but is stuck on the chair and rubber bands. Eijun's terror returns with a drop of a hat. "DON'T COME IN YOU HORRID CATCHER I'M EXTREMELY CONTAGIOUS!" Images of Miyuki feeding him soup pop into the southpaw's head and his face heats up in a way that has nothing to do with the fever.

"Sawamura, it's me," he hears Kanemaru say from outside. "Is there something wrong with your door? Kuramochi-senpai gave me his key, but it's not working." He tries the handle again.

"Oh, I'm fine, you don't need to come in at all OR SEND ANYONE ELSE so haha that's okay you can tell Senpai you checked on me. I'll be healthy in no time and back on the field!"

"Sawamura," and Eijun can hear Kanemaru's irritation even muffled by the door, "you literally just said that you're extremely contagious and now you're perfectly fine? Could you open the door from your side?"

"Nuh uh." What if Kuramochi realizes he forgot to tell Kanemaru something about looking after Eijun and sends Miyuki too? Sawamura Eijun will not lower his guard!

"Does that mean you can't or you won't?" Eijun wonders which answer will get Kanemaru to leave. There's a pause outside, and then "Oh my god, did you _block the door_? You do realize that Kuramochi-senpai's going to kill you if he can't get the door open after practice, right?"

"What's that, Kanemaru? I'm trying to sleep, I didn't quite hear –"

"I take no responsibility for your roommate's actions later. Absolutely none." Eijun hears footsteps fade away and eventually falls into a deeper sleep.

In the end it takes two people to get the door open, 1) Haruichi to climb in the tiny window and 2) Ryousuke to keep Kuramochi from screaming himself hoarse and actually strangling his ailing, dumbass roommate.


	3. The Beach Episode

I know nothing about the geography of Japan or how baseball tournaments work there, but I hope you can enjoy this anyway.

* * *

Kuramochi grins down at Eijun, who's lying on the hostel bed with a travel guide over half his face. "C'mon, Sawamura, it'll be fun. You scared of the ocean or something?"

It's happening again. This time it's the beach episode. Literally every manga ever has a beach event, and it's full of longing looks at exposed skin, swimsuit accidents in the water, the trope where someone almost gets CPR from their crush because of near drowning, and interactions with other beach-goers that lead to one of the main characters being protective of their beloved. In short, it's supposed to be a fun and interesting break from the main storyline, but Eijun's trying to avoid those kinds of developments when Miyuki Kazuya is around.

Seidou is taking part in an away tournament in Shimane prefecture and, because the opening ceremonies start Friday evening, they drove up with the equipment Thursday night. All the nearby fields are being prepared for the tournament, so they have nothing to do but explore the seaside town until 4:30, when they're due back at the hostel to meet up with the coach.

"I don't wanna go," he repeats.

Haruichi speaks up. "Eijun-kun, normally you'd be all over this sort of thing. Plus, with Kuramochi-senpai's goading you generally… you know."

"Not going."

"I say we just leave him," Miyuki suggests with an eye roll. Kuramochi shoots him a glare and Furuya looks indifferent, as usual.

Haruichi tries for a compromise. "Will you at least come with us to buy souvenirs and find something to eat first? You can pack your swimsuit and towel in your backpack in case you change your mind later."

"Okay." He's not going to change his mind, but it'll make Harucchi happy, and Eijun is starting to get hungry anyway. They'd all slept in because there was nowhere to practice and the bus had gotten in late, so it's closer to lunch than breakfast time.

They stop at touristy places to take pictures and in shops that sound interesting. The five of them run into another set of their teammates in the sports store and join up. Eijun is REALLY hungry at this point, but now everyone else is talking about just picking up snacks at a corner store so they can hit the beach immediately. He needs some way to escape.

As they pick out a place to stop, Eijun blurts out "I think I left something in the sports store." It's a complete lie, but it's the beginning of a way out of this predicament.

There's some groaning. "Sawamura, that's like seven or eight blocks back."

"I'll go by myself! I have my phone! You guys go get food and I'll catch up, okay?"

A couple of the guys are reluctant to let him go alone – "He'll probably run into trouble or something" – but Eijun jogs off before they can finish their protests.

"Great," he says to himself once he's several streets away. "Now to get lost. That's a totally believable reason to not catch up with them at the beach, right?" Eijun retraces the group's steps to a diner he spotted earlier and pops in for lunch. He eats more than he probably should, but hey, he missed breakfast, so it all averages out, right?

After lunch he just wanders, an unused map tucked in his back pocket. He comes to a park that, on a Friday afternoon, is understandably busy. Ooh, there's an open seat on the swing set. He hasn't been on one of those in ages. Eijun thinks philosophically that there's really no such thing as being too old for swings, so he moseys over and gets on next to a ten-year-old.

Now that he's far, far away from the ocean and the possibility of romantic mishaps, Eijun lets out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Miyuki in a nothing but a swimsuit is six kinds of tempting and Eijun's brain would have been scrambled all afternoon if he'd been there with the rest of the team. It's not like he hasn't seen Miyuki without clothes – he has the baths at Seidou to thank for that – but Eijun's usually just as exhausted as the rest of them at the end of practice and is pretty much only thinking about sleep; he doesn't really LOOK at the water dripping down Miyuki's muscles, muscles that he knows are VERY APPEALING. The mental image of an energetic Miyuki at the beach, who's shirtless and wet and smirking with a mischievous glint in his eye, is enough to short out Eijun's mind for a long moment.

His phone rings and, unthinkingly, Eijun pulls it out of his pocket to answer. \Harucchi 3/ the caller ID reads. Haruichi is probably still with the other Seidou guys, including the very person Eijun was just daydreaming about. Flustered at the thought of hearing Miyuki in the background of the call, Eijun shoves the phone back in his pocket until it stops ringing. After a few seconds, Eijun shoots off a text to Haruichi saying that he's fine and definitely not getting into trouble and not to worry about him.

Immediately after that he gets a call from Kuramochi, which he ignores as well. There's a voicemail with too many expletives to listen to on a playground, so Eijun cuts the message off halfway and saves it for later.

He kind of hopes there'll be a call from Miyuki saying that everyone's missing him at the beach and Eijun reddens at the thought of Miyuki saying "I miss you, Sawamura" and oh SHOOT he's supposed to be trying to get rid of the crush, not make it worse!

Eijun makes friends with three eight-year-old girls and stays on the playground until 5:00, when he gets a call from an unfamiliar number. It's Coach Kataoka, and Eijun spends the entirety of the tournament's opening ceremonies practically catatonic while the rest of the team wordlessly wonders what the hell Coach said to get Eijun back to the hostel from over a mile away within four minutes.


	4. The Love Rival's Introduction Episode

This chapter got accidentally fluffy at the end.

* * *

Eijun is really just minding his own business when he hears Miyuki's name. He's passing by the clubrooms on the way to the vending machines for a green tea and apparently they're not all empty during lunch because a female voice says "– guy that I like is _really_ handsome. You know the first-string catcher for the baseball club, Miyuki-san? I have Japanese History with him, too, so I know he's smart. Beauty _and_ brains."

"Are you going to ask him out?"

The first speaker sighs. "No. He's turned down loads of girls who come to watch Seidou's games. I like talking to him during class and I don't want a rejected confession hanging between us. Maybe if we got to know each other better, I'd reconsider."

Despite the part of Eijun that's urging him to just keep walking, he peeks through the door to catch a glimpse of the girl. For someone who's impressed by Miyuki's looks, she's pretty gorgeous herself, with her glossy hair slightly curled, clothes carefully ironed, and excellent posture. That sweet smile is absolutely killer, and if Eijun wasn't so smitten with Miyuki's grin she'd be near the top of the list of kickass smiles.

Another girl starts talking about her crush on a third-year and Eijun loses interest, resuming his walk to the vending machines. Until now he'd sort of forgotten that he isn't the only one interested in Miyuki, that there are girls (and maybe guys) who DO want a romantic ending with him eventually.

Eijun almost drops his bottle of tea in realization: the sudden awareness of others competing for the love interest's affections generally happens when the HEROINE'S EVIL LOVE RIVAL is about to be introduced to the series.

OH MAN.

He doesn't want an evil love rival. This needs to be fixed before it can become a problem, because if he ends up rivals with a popular girl who's enamored with Miyuki, it'll become quickly obvious that he, Sawamura Eijun, is also in love with Miyuki.

How can he prevent her transition to wickedness? It's not something often done in the manga that he's read, but occasionally after two girls have a vicious, climactic fight they begin to connect over the understanding that, while they can't cheer one another on, they can agree that the love interest deserves whoever makes him the happiest.

A fight and resolution isn't exactly what Eijun wants either, because he would prefer to keep the whole having-a-crush-on-Miyuki thing a secret. Perhaps there's another way he can counteract this development.

WAIT. There was that one manga where the childhood best friends were both in love with the same man and they tearfully agreed to both court him while still remaining friends. Eijun never finished that series because the library stopped buying the new volumes, but the girls' solution seemed to work for them, from what he remembers.

He'll just have to befriend this girl.

The next morning he leaves for class early, searching the halls for his potential new friend. She's nowhere to be found on the first floor, so she might be an upperclassman. She hadn't referred to Miyuki as a senpai, so she could be a second year…? Oh, right! The girl said she was in a class with him, so she has to be a second year. He doesn't have time to find her on the second floor before the bell rings, but at least he knows a little more now.

During lunch he checks the clubroom where the girls had been yesterday, but the door is shut and he doesn't hear anyone inside. Eijun tries the cafeteria and spots her eating by the windows. Her friends aren't around (maybe still in the lunch line?) so Eijun glances over at his usual table, sees that no one has noticed him yet, and heads over to the girl with the cute smile.

He's about five steps from her when he realizes that he hasn't thought of an excuse for approaching her, but then he spots volume fourteen of _Kimi ni Todoke_ on the table and it feels a little bit like fate. "You're reading that?! Do you like it so far? That's one of my favorites!"

Eijun's possible new friend glances up at his excited tone, looking bemused. "Rereading, actually."

"Sawako-chan's the best, right? What other manga do you read?"

Instead of answering the question, she squints at him. "I know you. You're Sawamura Eijun, one of the pitchers for the baseball team, aren't you? The loud first year."

"Yup! That's me!"

She chuckles at his enthusiasm. "I'm Morikawa Ami, second year. You want to sit down?" Eijun realizes that he's still standing and hastily takes a seat across from her. Morikawa leans forward, her face serious but eyes sparkling impishly. "Now, you asked about what else I read, but before we get too deep into discussion, we have to agree on this one thing."

Eijun's heart skips, wondering how she could possibly know about his crush on Miyuki. "What's that?"

"It's about my favorite series… what do you think of Yumeno Sakiko's _Let's Fall in Love_?" she asks, breaking into a smile, and Eijun wonders if there's such thing as friendship-at-first-sight.

"Morikawa Ami, I own every single volume."

* * *

And so Eijun avoids another shoujo trope and makes a new friend. Also, yes, that was a GSNK reference near the end because GSNK is gold.


	5. The Test of Courage Episode

Kuramochi still hasn't let Eijun forget about the day he moved into Seidou and got the crap scared out of him by the shortstop. "Kyahaha, is poor little Sawamura going to get scared again? Is he afraid of the dark?"

"I am NOT, and who expects someone to play a prank on them before they've even been introduced, huh?! It was just RUDE, Sempai!"

"You shoulda seen your face," he laughs. Eijun sticks out his tongue and then ducks behind Furuya.

Miyuki clears his throat to get the team's attention. "Alright," he says, looking especially attractive with his captain-mode on. "I know we'd all rather be practicing," and he pauses as everyone nods, "but the dean is interested in 'promoting friendship between the extracurricular clubs' – it sounds good for the school, you know? – so we've been roped into this event, which I'm sure you've all heard about by now. We'll be playing these 'night games' with two of the other sports teams. It'll be tennis, volleyball, and us. The dean's been explaining it as some weird variation of capture the flag, but that's boring so I talked to the other two captains and we're changing it to a test of courage in the copse of trees just past the practice fields."

Miyuki starts to talk about rules and brainstorming tricks based on materials that the team members have available, but Eijun tunes out, mind racing.

A test of courage?! Shoot, this is BAD. He can easily imagine getting stuck in a group with Miyuki and having to deal with his mocking comments every time Eijun so much as flinches. What if he accidentally clings to Miyuki? The second year would never let him live it down. Eijun will look like a coward if he tries to skip out, and asking to switch groups would be suspicious – it's not like he can tell everyone he wants to avoid clinging to Miyuki!

And of course, it turns out that they're put in the same group. Eijun wants to bang his head against a tree – there's no escaping this situation now, is there? UGH! There are TOO MANY love developments that can happen during a test of courage! What if Eijun trips in the dark and gets hurt, or Miyuki does? Then the uninjured one would have to carry the other out of the trees to find a first aid kit, and the whole time they'll be pressed up against each other and Eijun will be trying not to think about how strong and solid and safe Miyuki is…

STOP THAT, BRAIN.

What if they both get scared? Eijun is all too willing to hold hands or jump into Miyuki's arms, but Miyuki probably won't like that. Or what if they get separated from the group? Eijun thinks about fictional couples during these events, where the two have to keep touching so they don't lose each other in the dark and chat to keep from getting scared. They take the chance to talk about misunderstandings from previous chapters and maybe share stories from their pasts. One stumbles, the other catches them, and suddenly they can feel the other's breath on their face and they're close enough to kiss…

OH NO, he's thinking about kissing! Man, Eijun's got to do SOMETHING. He can't go through the woods with Miyuki without falling victim to a situation of love! He needs a plan, now!

As Eijun works himself into an anxious tizzy, the baseball team heads into the trees, splitting off into groups. Eijun just wants a moment to think.

However, one brush of Miyuki's skin on his to avoid a protruding root and the southpaw promptly acts without thinking: he lets Miyuki pass and then scrambles up a sturdy-looking oak with a low branch, like he's done so many times in Nagano. Once he's perched in a higher spot, he takes deep breaths and waits for this whole nightmare of a game to end. A few minutes pass and the only sounds are from the snapping of twigs on the ground where other athletes are picking through the woods.

Hey. On the bright side, it looks like he's beaten the latest shoujo development after all. Haha! No more gushy thoughts about that dazzling catcher today! Sawamura Eijun decides his own fate!

He likes the sound of that, so he says it out loud: "Sawamura Eijun decides his own fate. WAHOO! YEAH!"

"What are you doing up there?" he hears, and Eijun, a veteran tree-climber with ten years of experience under his belt, jerks in surprise and falls backwards off the branch.

His hand hits another branch and he latches on with as much luck as practiced skill, his other arm joining the first to take some of his weight. It isn't the first time he's fallen out of a tree. Eijun struggles onto this new branch – barely big enough to support his weight – and peers down at the person on the ground: one of the volleyball players, it looks like, foam sword in one hand like he's ready to slay someone. He clicks on his flashlight and shines it at Eijun.

"I, um…"

"Oi," a familiar voice says, approaching from the direction Group 5 had gone, "volleyball kid, have you seen anyone running around here, we're missing our – Sawamura?" Miyuki follows the direction of the stranger's flashlight and meets Eijun's gaze.

"Uh. Hi there, Miyuki-senpai."

His mouth open and closes. "I thought I knew just how dumb you were, but I guess I underestimated. Why'd you go off alone?"

"Well excuse you, Miyuki Kazuya! I was just performing my duties as a group lookout! I wanted to see where the other teams had set up to scare us." What is he saying? They'd never discussed having a group lookout.

Miyuki quirks an eyebrow but lets the lie pass for now. "Okay, then get down."

Eijun glances around him. "I'll stay right here, thanks."

"What?"

"No, no, it's good, I'll find a branch to move to. Nothing to panic about."

"Sawamura…"

"It's not like I planned to grab this one," Eijun admits in a gush. "There're no other branches nearby that can support me without snapping."

"Do you need a hand?" The volleyball player asks.

"Sawamura, can you hang from the branch and drop down? I'll catch you."

Eijun is going to strangle whoever decided that tests of courage make for exciting romantic scenarios, because here he is, stuck in a tree that he climbed to AVOID love developments, poised to literally jump into another one. Miyuki is currently cast as the white knight, a departure from his usual role as the sarcastic and teasing senpai.

But Eijun isn't a damsel and he sure as hell isn't in any real distress. "You'll break an arm, Senpai, and then where will the team be without out main catcher? I'll find a way down."

"Good, I wasn't going to actually catch you anyway." Miyuki grins at whatever expression Eijun's making and godDAMN, Eijun can't decide whether he wants to kiss him or kill him.


	6. The Festival Episode

"They're going to have fireworks tonight," Furuya murmurs, reading the flier that the three of them had picked up at the entrance to the festival.

Haruichi nods. "We should stay to see them. I noticed earlier that they've got some local bands playing too."

"Wanna play games until they start? And I saw a takoyaki stand too!" Eijun's friends nod and Haruichi picks out the first booth.

They move through the festival grounds and Eijun's having a great time, playing games and people watching and –

That is Miyuki over there.

He's here, at the festival. That Seidou baseball cap turned to the side is distinctive enough to pick out easily. Is he here with someone? Does Miyuki even know anyone outside the baseball team? He has to, right? This is a situation for… ninja mode!

Eijun holds up his hands like he's about to whip out a karate chop. With exaggerated movements, he slides over to the gap between two tents and then peeks out in the direction he saw Miyuki go.

"Eijun-kun, what are you doing?"

"Top secret, Harucchi! I may have just been given a mission of utmost importance!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Shh! There could be ears anywhere. We shouldn't talk!"

"If only," Furuya mutters.

"Are you feeling alright?" Haruichi asks the southpaw.

"I'm about to power up! My super sneaking skills are going to be in perfect shape!"

"That's not what I –"

"Worry not! I will carry out my operation while you two stay here and enjoy the festival. I can't let civilians get involved!"

"Oh my god, Eijun," is the last thing the would-be ninja hears before he runs ahead through the crowd. Catching up to Miyuki doesn't take very long, and Eijun sets himself up for surveillance. The catcher is with three other guys, all high school age. They have their backs turned to Eijun, but that blonde hair… Narumiya Mei?! And those other two must have known Miyuki before Seidou too!

"Hah? What are they doing here?" Eijun is indignant up until it clicks that this is better than what he expected to find. Miyuki isn't on a date. That's good.

Uh-oh, but speaking of dating and festivals… love developments are a very common occurrence in manga. He can name eight series off the top of his head.

"Mission abort!" Eijun shouts, twisting out from his hiding spot behind a tent pole and tearing back to the area where he left Furuya and Haruichi. They've moved down a couple booths to one of the booksellers, but Haruichi waves when he spots Eijun.

"I escaped just in time," Eijun reports cheerfully. Haruichi shakes his head and Furuya makes that expression that says he doesn't even want to waste energy on rolling his eyes at the southpaw.

Eijun's still on high alert for possible Miyuki sightings while they try out more games. After an hour the amateur ninja is less vigilant, but he still spots Seidou's first string catcher before Miyuki sees them. Eijun immediately drops and rolls under the table of the ring toss booth like an action hero avoiding gunfire. Squished up against the prizes stored under the table, he tugs the tablecloth back into place.

"Eijun, what's going on now?"

"Just carry on!" the southpaw directs frantically. "I'll be back in a moment!"

He hears the chair squeak as someone sits down and then a horrifyingly familiar voice: "How's the game? I didn't know you two were coming."

"Eijun-kun's here too."

"Oh? Where is he?"

"He's, um… under the table."

"He's what?" The tablecloth is pulled up and Miyuki Kazuya pokes his head down. "What are you doing under there, goof?"

"NOTHING, I, nothing, I'm, uh, looking for a fish!" he blurts out. Oh man, that was super dumb. Why the heck did he say that? Fish? Where did that even come from?

"A fish," Miyuki echoes neutrally, reaching to pull him out from under the table.

Eijun takes the offered hand. "Y-yes, I was thinking that maybe it would be, ah, um…"

Miyuki puts a finger to Eijun's lips and the first year goes instantly silent. "I won't make you finish that terrible lie," he snickers.

Eijun can feel his face burning as Miyuki removes his finger. "Where're the others?"

Miyuki frowns. "How do you know there are others?"

"Uh…" Eijun realizes with terror that he almost gave away information about a classified mission, because Miyuki doesn't know that Eijun followed him earlier. The pitcher manages to recover, though: "People don't really go to festivals alone?"

He nods at that. "They're doing karaoke, so I decided to just wander for a bit." Miyuki yawns and puts a hand over his mouth, the same hand whose finger had been pressed to Eijun's mouth only seconds ago.

THAT IS AN INDIRECT KISS.

WITH MIYUKI.

His brain stops. "EXCUSE ME ONE MOMENT, I MUST GO!" The southpaw runs to the edge of the festival and halts, waiting for his cheeks to cool down and for his breathing to return to normal. Once he's calmed down, he circles around half the festival grounds before reentering, carefully peering around. Eijun slips between the shadows of the tents, ducks behind strangers, and tip-toes until he's almost back to where Haruichi, Furuya, and Miyuki are. He hides behind a festival sign and watches. They exchange words for a couple minutes and, after checking his phone, Miyuki leaves.

He lets out a breath and rejoins the other first years.

"You just missed Miyuki-senpai leaving, Eijun-kun."

"Oh, what a coincidence!"

Haruichi gives him a weird look, but changes the subject. "You're still okay with fireworks, right? They start in half an hour."

"Yeah!" They find a good place in the park next to the festival grounds and spread the blanket that Haruichi had brought.

Eijun's lying on his stomach, head turned to look at Haruichi and Furuya, when someone gives him a light kick in the ankle. "Hey!"

"Scoot over," Miyuki orders. "Their blanket's not big enough for four." At Eijun's questioning look, he explains: "Kominato-kun and Monster-kun said we could join you." Eijun looks past Miyuki to see the three Inashiro players looking just about as uncomfortable as he feels.

"Uh, hello," he says to them. They nod vaguely in his direction. One of the players Eijun doesn't know sets up their blanket next to Haruichi's and they settle in. Miyuki pushes Eijun over and lies down on the end of the Seidou blanket, between the two teams.

The moment that Eijun realizes he's LYING NEXT TO MIYUKI he freaks out, babbles about whatever comes to mind, and then fakes a stomach bug to go home before the fireworks start. The three Inashiro players never really lose the impression that the Seidou southpaw is an overanxious mess who screams a lot about ninjas.


	7. The Alternate Point of View Episode

I wanted to show how the team is reacting to Sawamura's silly behavior, so this chapter is told from Kanemaru Shinji's point of view. The tone is a little different from previous chapters with Eijun (or at least it seems like that to me).

* * *

"Okay, is someone gonna say it, or do I have to?" The team is outside the dugout after their last set of base running for the day, most of the players stretched out on the ground in exhaustion. Some halfheartedly turn their heads towards Kuramochi, including Kanemaru Shinji. "Sawamura," the vice-captain says, pointing at the one player still vertical at this point. The kid's just pulled out his tire and is running back and forth in the outfield shouting "oshi oshi oshi!" like the base runs were a warmup. "Anyone know what's going on with him? The brat's been off his rocker for weeks."

"It's not just me thinking that?" Kawakami exhales in relief somewhere to Shinji's left. "I thought he was acting strange, but…"

"Who knows if Sawamura's ever been _on_ his rocker?" someone finishes. There are a handful of chuckles.

Kuramochi nods. "He's always been impulsive, but now he's just being _weird_. Any thoughts?"

"I didn't think Sawamura even knew what 'evasive' meant until a couple days ago during practice," Ono admits.

"Or 'fear'," Kariba throws in. "When someone mentioned the tradition of a school-wide cultural fair, he made this strangled squawking sound and ran off."

Kuramochi pokes Miyuki. "Oi, you catch with him more than Ono and Kariba. You got anything to contribute?"

Seidou's main catcher doesn't budge from his graceless sprawl on the ground, eyes still closed. "Whatever it is, I don't think it's directly related to baseball. He's been fine on the mound. I'm not sure it's really the team's job to figure out what's gotten him restless."

"Captain, not to disagree, but I'm pretty sure the mental health of our teammate is important to at least consider," Toujou pipes up. "Do you remember the day we were late getting out of morning practice before school? Sawamura-kun and I were the last ones in the dining hall and he hadn't finished breakfast when the first bell rang, so I told him to eat his toast on the way to class and then run for it. He laughed hysterically for a minute straight and then said no. Is that the reaction of someone who is okay?"

Shinji doesn't think that one's a mystery. "Running to school with toast" is commonly associated with girls in manga and Shinji probably would've cracked a smile too, though Sawamura's response still sounds like a serious overreaction.

"Eijun-kun insists that he's fine, but at the last festival we went to, he was completely erratic." Erratic. Shinji's used that word before in reference to Sawamura, namely when the pitcher was sick enough to think barricading his door was a good idea.

Suddenly everyone has a crazy-Sawamura story to bring up. "And then there was the thing during the test of courage. You found him _halfway up a tree_ , right, Miyuki-senpai?"

"What about the fact that he hasn't showed up to hang out with everyone in Miyuki's room for a while?"

Everyone's blowing this way out of proportion, Shinji thinks. Sawamura's been odd, but that's par for the course in his case. Maybe he's just busy, or doesn't want to talk about whatever problem he's having. He could be worried about a family member at home or thinking about a girl or whatever.

Shinji gets sidetracked by the entertaining notion of Sawamura trying to court a girl. He'd be overdramatic and try every cliché. Oh god, the idiot would probably try to sing to her and write poetry. The third baseman bites his lip to keep from laughing, and other "romantic" ideas pop into his head: Sawamura trying to win her a big prize at a festival and losing patience, Sawamura accidentally buying flowers that mean something heinous in flower language, Sawamura trying to show off at the beach and tripping over a rock in the shallow water. Heh.

When practice is over, Shinji puts the team's discussion out of his mind and plows through his homework after a quick shower. Then, he picks up the first volume of a manga series recommended by a classmate, and it seems that he can't escape Sawamura even here, because chapter four introduces a pair of side characters that share the loud pitcher's family name. Shinji tries to ignore them in favor of the female protagonist, a hopeful romantic who wants something exciting to happen with her new boyfriend at the community festival. The couple's ridiculous hijinks are funny because they subvert the tropes developed in other series' festival chapters and –

Wait a goddamned minute. Festivals are a common plot element in romance manga. Being late to school while eating toast is a common element in romance manga. Shinji recalls the other instances of odd behavior mentioned by the team. Participating in school fairs, having a character get sick, and doing a test of courage are _all common tropes in romance series._

Sawamura has been avoiding all of these situations like the plague. The southpaw, who reads as much shoujo as Shinji, must have a crush on someone. More than that, he likes someone whom he _doesn't_ want to pursue a relationship with, since he's been bailing on any situation that could appear in a romance. What an outrageous kid.

Between Sawamura and the object of his affections, Shinji can't decide who he pities more.

* * *

Lol Shinji's picturing Eijun as the love interest rather than the heroine. In case you were curious, the series he's reading is Usotsuki Lily and it's gloriously ridiculous.  
On another note, depending on whether I decide to split up the next chapter into two, I may not be updating tomorrow.


	8. The Note in the Shoe Locker Episode

Eijun clicks open his shoe locker first thing in the morning and finds a note. Didn't he clean out all the papers stuffed in here last Friday? Yeah, he definitely did. Oh. This quarter-sheet of paper is unwrinkled and folded neatly. Not his.

He looks around and no one is watching, so he unfolds the paper. "Meet me at the practice field tonight after 9:30" the first line reads, and then below it: "Just you, no one else"

Is this… a challenge letter?! Eijun's eyebrows jump up. He's never gotten one of those before. Did he get a rival at some point that he doesn't know about? Usually anyone who had a problem with him in junior high would just come out and say something. Who wants to challenge him, and why? He's not even the ace yet – not that a teammate would challenge him like this! He's not really the top in anything else, though, so it's not like someone's jealous.

OH. What if it's another love rival? He's getting along nicely with Morikawa-chan, but Miyuki has tons of fans and Eijun gets to spend a LOT more time with Miyuki than most other people crushing on the catcher. The handwriting's not really loopy or cute, so maybe it's a guy's? What kind of other guys have fallen for Miyuki? If Eijun goes to this meeting, he'll probably find out.

Buuuut Eijun's not supposed to get into fights. He represents the team and he doesn't want to cause Boss any trouble. Then again, if he doesn't show up and the person who wrote the note gets angry, there might be a fight tomorrow at school, which is more public. That would be worse, definitely. Eijun can't deny that a fight happened if half the school sees it.

He should probably go see who it is.

"'Morning, Sawamura-kun." The first year whose shoe locker is next to Eijun's nods at him. "Is that a love note?"

"What? No," Eijun answers, tucking the paper in his pocket. Wait, but maybe it is? It's a possibility: in manga, girls usually ask their crush to meet in order to confess their feelings, and they would want to be alone with their love interest. When he gets to homeroom, Eijun opens up the message again and stares at the words.

Who the heck could this be from? He reexamines the handwriting. Maybe it IS a girl's handwriting, just one who writes without flourishes. Eijun doesn't know of any girls that are interested in him, but he doesn't know any guys like that either. If this is a love note, standing them up would just be rude.

So, whether it's a challenge letter or love note, Eijun knows where he's going to be at 9:30 tonight.

School and practice pass in a blur, and Eijun approaches the field at 9:27pm. There's someone at home plate already and he squints. It's too dark to tell who it is. Then, the person shifts their weight and flips open a phone. The glow from the device lights up the figure's face and uh-oh, Eijun would know that mischievous expression anywhere.

He freezes, but before he can turn tail and slip away, Miyuki looks up and spots him. Eijun forces his legs to start up again and he moves forward until he's in the batter's box, clutching the note in his pocket. Not a challenge letter or a love note, probably. What's going on?

"W-w-wha – I, um – hey Miyuki? I –"

Miyuki raises an eyebrow but looks mildly entertained. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I don't have a cat!" Ugh, can the ground open up and swallow him now? Eijun can feel his whole face heating up.

They're utterly alone in the dark, unlike the group scenario during the test of courage. Also, unless Miyuki told someone, no one knows where they are. Oh MAN Eijun's trying to calm down but thoughts that like aren't helping! He can imagine Miyuki taking a step towards him, into his personal space, sliding one hand onto Eijun's hip and another into his hair. In his imagination Miyuki leans forward, eyes meeting Eijun's and wordlessly asking "Can I?" and Eijun nods and finally the catcher closes the distance between them and presses his lips against Eijun's.

"I… see." Miyuki's response snaps Eijun out of the fantasy.

"W-what's this about, Miyuki-senpai? Leaving this note in my locker like it's a challenge letter." He pulls out the paper and waves it at Miyuki, not mentioning his other idea about the note. Eijun doesn't think he'll be able to say the word "love" in front of Miyuki without completely letting the cat out of the bag. "It's just misleading, that's what it is."

"You thought this was a challenge letter?" Miyuki's quietly sniggering.

Eijun's face might actually be on fire now. He balls up his hands. "It looks like one! Asking me to meet you all alone after dark and not signing the message!"

The second year stops muffling his laughter. "You didn't recognize the handwriting at all?"

"I – Of course not! How should I be expected to know what your handwriting looks like, hah?"

"And you came out for a fight dressed in your practice clothes?"

"What, so I should have changed and got another set of things dirty?"

"Haha, I didn't know you thought that far ahead."

"I'm not as big an idiot as you think I am! I think about things!" The minute that's out of his mouth Eijun regrets it, because the next obvious question ("like what?") would immediately fill the southpaw's head with images of Miyuki in lovey-dovey situations and then Eijun wouldn't be able to do anything but stammer. "Look, are we ever gonna get back to why you called me out here?"

Miyuki nods. "It's not about your pitching – you're still as irregular as ever –"

"Hey!"

"– so there's no problem there as long as you're still working on it." He pauses for a long moment, as if thinking about how to start, and then chuckles, shaking his head. "You're the only one who stirs things up like this."

His palms start to sweat. "Hah?! W-what's that supposed to mean?" Eijun's read scenes like this a million times. With a background of flowers and sparkling screentones, the love interest and the protagonist start an intimate conversation. The love interest is looking at the heroine and her heart is pounding madly, wondering if her feelings could be reciprocated. Too embarrassed to ask directly about his feelings, she mumbles something to change the subject, but the hero is having none of that. With a grand, sweeping gesture, he presses the heroine up against the wall or tree or nearest convenient vertical surface and says dramatically, "You're the only one who can make me feel this way" or "There's no one else in the world like you" before kissing her.

"It means exactly what I said, Sawamoron," Miyuki answers. With a snort, he adds, "You're one-of-a-kind, though I suppose that's not entirely unfortunate." Wait, so Miyuki thinks Eijun is special?

Oh god. There's no escape. He did all that running away before and it didn't matter, because a shoujo scenario has finally caught up with him.

Oh man oh man oh MAN his brain is having a complete shutdown. Eijun's knees lock and he can't run, but for some reason his mouth still works and he can't get his hands up fast enough to stop himself from speaking. "This conversation officially needs to be over! No, nope, it's not happening, we're not going to talk about that at all because this isn't a romance and I'm totally definitely really not in love with you one tiny bit, idiot!"

It takes approximately 0.2 seconds for Eijun to realize what he just said. OH SHIT, he's just blown it, hasn't he? What's he going to do now?!

Miyuki blinks in surprise. "The team's been bugging me, as captain, to talk to you about your behavior lately."

His anger drains instantly in favor of deep, deep embarrassment. "Oh," Eijun says faintly. Suddenly meeting at the field makes sense, because their teammates regularly commandeer Miyuki's room and Kuramochi could walk into Eijun's at any time. They wouldn't get interrupted here. "So when you said that I stir things up…"

"Yeah, you're making everyone twitchy." Miyuki's expression slowly breaks into the habitual smirk that Eijun loves and fears, and the southpaw knows he's done for. Oh CRAP. "I think I might have just figured out the reason for that, though. Haven't I, Sa-wa-mu-ra?"

"N-no! That wasn't a confession! Weren't you listening? I just said that I'm NOT in love with you! P-pay attention when other people talk!"

The smirk hasn't gone away yet. "Aha, so you _do_ have a crush on me?"

"Do not!"

"That explains a bunch of things," Miyuki continues, ignoring Eijun's denial, "such as why my loud kouhai has been red as a lobster every day during practice for a couple weeks." Eijun covers his face, but Miyuki just snickers. "I thought it might have been a sunburn or the result of overwork, but nooo, it was just because Sawamura-kun's _crush_ happened to be there. Do you think that I don't notice _everything_ about the pitchers during practice?"

"Argh! Stop it!" This is all wrong! Confessions are supposed to have BOTH parties blushing and sharing how much they mean to each other! They're supposed to talk about when each of them fell in love and how love has made them a better person! And there should be kissing!

No, NO Eijun don't think about kissing, not now, even though it would probably be really nice to kiss Miyuki out here in the dark, when that bastard wouldn't be able to see his blush… NO STOP IT. JUST STOP.

"And you were _really_ wound up when we joined you for fireworks. Did I make you nervous? Did you think about all the _couples_ who go to things like that?"

"Shut up, you evil bastard!" Now his mind's running in circles thinking about festivals and smooching again and that's REALLY NOT HELPING.

"Are there any other overreactions I should know about?"

"I'm not telling! You can't make me!"

"Oh, I'm sure I could," he laughs, stepping back, "but another time. I'll let you go for tonight. Don't think I'll forget about this, though."

"What a crappy senpai!"

"I bet you like that about me." Miyuki winks, walking around Eijun to return to the dorms. "Goodnight, Sawamura. Sweet dreams."

"I hope you can't sleep at all! I hope you're completely exhausted tomorrow and miss practice!" Miyuki just cackles.

* * *

Ah, well, you knew he couldn't keep hiding it forever. Poor Eijun.  
Also, this is not the end - there's one more chapter coming tomorrow!


	9. The Final Episode

Not sure if I should have a warning for lots of fluff, but here you go.

* * *

The next two days are a nightmare. Miyuki takes every single opportunity to tease Eijun about his discovery, to Eijun's chagrin and the entertainment of the rest of the team. At the end of practice on Day 2 of Torment-by-the-Evil-Catcher, Miyuki is pulling aside each pitcher to talk about tomorrow's match, as per Boss's orders. Earlier, Eijun had been trying to think of excuses to flee, but one look from Boss and Eijun knows he's not going anywhere for anything short of an emergency.

Aw, shoot, now it's his turn. Miyuki must see the southpaw's trepidation because he grins, though he keeps his nasty personality to a minimum until Boss leaves, making them the last ones there. Eijun does a good job paying attention for most of it, but he starts to zone out near the end.

The two of them are alone now, right? Having their first kiss in the dugout as the sun sets wouldn't be so bad. It's like manga scenarios in the clubroom, when the other members have left for the day or gone on errands. The two main characters feel the tension in the room, sneakily peering at each other only to look away when their eyes meet. They try to make small talk but eventually they end up silent, staring at each other longingly and forgetting to look away. It's hard to tell which one of them leans forward first, and then…

"– so don't lose focus tomorrow and remember the areas that you've been working on," Miyuki finishes. Then, with a sly smile, he adds: "Think you can handle that?"

"Of course I can handle it!" Eijun blusters. "I'm the one who's going to be the ace!"

"I wouldn't want you to get distracted for any reason."

Eijun knows he's being baited, but can't stop himself: "YOU'RE the biggest distraction out there! Otherwise I'd be fine!"

"Ah, because you're embarrassed?"

"Because you're trying to drive me crazy!" Miyuki just laughs and pulls Eijun in, both hands cupping the southpaw's face. The pitcher opens his mouth to demand an explanation when suddenly there are lips on his.

It's a short kiss, but it's warm and soft and Eijun's whole body feels fuzzy. Miyuki doesn't try anything fancy, just presses their lips together for a few seconds before pulling away, leaving Eijun dazed. This isn't a hallucination, right? This is real?

When Eijun recovers enough to breathe again, he gasps. "Why did you do that?! You can't mess with people like that, kissing them when you don't even like them!"

Miyuki snickers, leaning his forehead against Eijun's. "Idiot. Who says I don't like you?"

It takes ten long seconds for that to make its way through Eijun's brain, but when he processes the implications, his mouth drops open. "What? Does that mean, do you really…?" Miyuki gives him a look that's says he's an utter moron, and Eijun flushes. "But you – why didn't you say something?! If you liked me back, then why go through all that trouble of mocking and not telling me?!"

Miyuki chuckles wickedly, eyes dancing. "Oh, Sawamura, did you think I was going to make this _easy_ for you?" He finally draws back from the southpaw's personal space with a self-satisfied grin that's beginning to piss Eijun off. "Besides, you haven't actually said that you like me yet. All I've been hearing is how much you _definitely_ don't like me at _all_."

"You – you!" Eijun's blushing furiously and it takes a few moments before he can manage to make words come out. This is nothing like the confession he imagined. "Of COURSE you have to be a jerk about this too! Ugh! I should have expected that! And why do I have to say it first?"

"I'm your senpai."

"Well I – I'm going to come up with better date ideas than you, so YOU say it first!" His reading preferences will be an advantage once again.

Miyuki's sharp smile in response to that is downright evil. "First, that doesn't make any sense, and second, I've got two tickets to the Yomiuri Giants game that's scheduled on our next night off."

"What?! Since when are you so prepared for this? Is that why you waited two days?" Shoot, he might have to sit down and actually brainstorm some kickass plans because, after Eijun's declaration, Miyuki's definitely going to point it out if the dates Eijun arranges aren't as cool as his.

"So, do you want to go see a professional game, maybe check out our future competition?"

Eijun thinks of the fictional dates he's read about at sporting events, where two people share concession stand food and thrill at the accidental brushes of skin as they both reach in for the same thing. The couples only get one straw for the drink and their faces redden as they think about indirect kisses. They get distracted from the game by holding hands for the first time, and later one gets overexcited when the players score and unthinkingly hugs the other in their enthusiasm.

Eijun suddenly realizes that he doesn't NEED to worry about avoiding romantic situations with Miyuki anymore, and he feels his face flush. "Er, I'd, um, really like that. A lot."

"There's my eloquent pitcher," Miyuki drawls, and although Eijun starts shouting at him for ruining the moment, the pitcher follows him out to the field and stomps out to the mound with a ball while the second year settles into the catcher's box.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading to the end! I hope you liked reading Genre Savvy as much as I enjoyed writing it :D


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